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* The protagonist's name is Niko Bellic - an Eastern European immigrant who has come to Liberty City to live the "American Dream." The game is set in Liberty City in 2007, but it is bigger than the Liberty City we saw in GTA III.

* The GTA 4 equivalent of the Statue of Liberty is called the Statue of Happiness, and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is known as BOABO (Beneath the Offramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass).

Game Informer
* In Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar have recreated 4 of the 5 boroughs in New York, as well as part of New Jersey. Broker is the GTA IV equivalent of Brooklyn, Manhattan is now called Algonquin, Queens is now Dukes, the Bronx is Bohan, and New Jersey is Alderney. The map is smaller than San Andreas, but considerably more detailed. No countryside or desert, we are led to believe.

* Pedestrians are far more realistic in GTAIV than in previous GTA games - they sit on benches, smoke cigarettes, read books and generally act like any real pedestrian would in the middle of a street.

* The screenshots in the preview are not representative of the final quality of the graphics, Rockstar insist. The game will only look better as the release draws closer..

* Niko was persuaded to move to Liberty City by his cousin Roman, who claimed to be living a wonderful life there with two beautiful women, fifteen sports cars, and lots of money etc, but he was infact telling a lie in order to hide his own failures. Roman is the only person you know in Liberty City at the beginning of the game, and he becomes one of your major connections at the start. Niko is a tough character whereas Roman is friendly. Roman is heavily in debt and a lot of people are after him - he needs Niko's support. They are constantly bickering.

* The demo (which was played on Xbox 360) begins with Bellic standing inside of the taxi depot, which Roman operates in the borough of Broker in a converted industrial garage. Roman works at a cluttered desk in a shabby environment, and at this point the graphical improvements are extremely evident. Bellic walks to a brownstone house in Broker, where he pushes open the door and pulls out a pistol. The living room however, is not occupied. He then moves onto the kitchen, which he also finds to be empty. He pushes his way through the back door and smashes the window of a red four-door car using his elbow. The broken glass falls onto the street and onto the seat of the car, as Bellic unlocks it from the inside. He hotwires the car and sets off to his next destination. The camera angle behind the car is closer to the vehicle than in previous GTA titles, which enables more detail on the car to be seen. After selecting a radio station, Bellic navigates to a section of the BOABO arriving at a dockside with a terrific view of the city skyline. Pigeons can be heard in the sky, and waves can be heard rustling in the water. Bellic then pulls out his cellphone which has options for Phonebook, Messages, Organizer and Camera on it's LCD screen. He selects Phonebook, and he is then presented with another set of options: City Contact, Docks Friend, and Cab Contact. After a brief conversation he informs the reciever to meet him at the docks.

* As Bellic walks, you can feel the weight behind each step he makes. Variations in the terrain cause realistic changes in the walking animation. The physics have also improved and character movements are more realistic.

* In previous GTA games you were like a slave because you had to constantly take orders from people when doing missions. There is still an element of that in Grand Theft Auto 4, but you can also choose how you want to spend your time, for example "I want to hang out with him and her. I want to hang out with this guy because he always has fun things to do." Call him up and maybe you can hang with him. Maybe he'll answer. You have a lot of choice over what you want to do.

* In GTA 4, Rockstar is giving its players more freedom, more choice, and more sense of control over their destiny - the structure of GTA4's storyline is quite different to it's predecessors as it can be told in a number of different ways. You can talk to people in person, by cell phones, and there are a bunch of other ways of giving the player information. In general it's a different experience, with new ways of interacting with the characters and the game world.

* Rockstar consulted crime experts and ex-policemen when making the game, and they learned that being a criminal is a lot harder these days than it was during the 80s and 90s (for example) and they have tried to reflect this in the game. This means you can expect to see a lot of people getting arrested - the police are a heavy presence in Liberty City.

* There are no planes in GTA IV because there is only one city, and Rockstar want the game to seem realistic. That means there will be no rollerblades, no unicycles, probably no jetpacks and indeed no planes. Rockstar are giving choice and variety which feels right for the character. However there will be motorbikes.

* Rockstar North is approaching the recruitment of voice actors in a different way. This means that we will probably hear less familiar voices in GTA 4, as R* are looking for voices which suit the attitude of the characters, and are not just looking for big names. A similar approach is being done with the soundtrack - Rockstar are looking for great music which works with the 2007 Liberty City.

* After an initial load sequence, the game will never load again. Not even during exterior-interior transitions (and vice versa).

* Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

* GTA IV will have multiplayer, but it's not going to be a massively multiplayer online game, says Dan Houser. They are trying to make something that is interesting, fun, progressive and which goes along nicely with the single-player game.

We'd like to express our thanks to demologik for providing all of this information on our forums. Discuss the contents of the preview at our forums and remember to digg this!

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

That is my birthday. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Mine is the fourth, but I'm changing it and my identity so it can be the 16th. Chabow wow.

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

I want to believe it, but haven't past GTAs been a bit heavy on the delays?

I can see this game being the best GTA to date. Why? Well, for one, it looks like you are being set up to be a Russian Mafia boss. The Russian Mafia is HARSH. I mean, they can go toe to toe with the Italians and the Yakuza. I don't know how they shape up with the Triads, but the Triads are a bit more cell-based in nature.

What I really like is the re-introduction of the phone. Oh, sure, you had a phone in VC and SA.. but it was just a receiver for all intents and purposes. Here, it will be the hub...

... Just like it was in GTA2. Yes.. I get a massive GTA2 vibe from this blurb. And that excites me to no end.

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

I want to believe it, but haven't past GTAs been a bit heavy on the delays?

Well it has been in development for 3 years so it's entirely plausible.

So excited for this game. Been playing San Andreas recently after not ever paying much attention to the GTA franchise and I'm liking it a great deal.

One thing that bugs me about SA though (and I'm probably not going to explain this very well) is that in the past GTAs Rockstar set up the main characters as very concrete in their motives and such but so far CJ just seems so morally ambiguous: By that I mean he comes back from Liberty City to bury his dead mother and help his 'hood restore its former glory free of drugs and all but you quickly find yourself killing military personnel and doing drive-byes and stuff with no hesitation after portraying him as a "nice guy" for the opening bits of the game. I felt like I missed some development somewhere.

I think that falls in line with what titmouse said about the missions being really linear. I keep feeling pigeon holed into the classic GTA "go here kill this guy" mission type and it makes me feel really odd about the type of person I'm playing as. I hope R* is able to present Niko in a way that doesn't seem like you absolutely need to kill or do what the mission says exactly. Some sort of light side/dark side dynamic would be interesting.

Then again trying to figure out the intents of a character in GTA may be pointless.

I just hope that the "Open ended" feel of the game is actually what they promise. "The actions you do affect your world." has been one of the biggest things that fucks these sorts of games, since I haven't really played a game that really felt that way to me. The worst offenders are True Crimes and Fable, where they essentially just have good and bad, I can kill a guy, but still be the hero of the town once I pay my fines. Doesn't seem quite right to me.

The only game to actually do this well (from my experience) is probably Oblivion. Baurus the Blade was killed in one of the missions and didn't think much of it and when I took his blade, Jaffre took it and now I can enjoy the Battle of Bruma and other parts of the game without Baurus, since he was an actual character that is now departed since I couldn't save him. Thats just one example, especially with many of the quests being actually open ended that can have multiple variations with different rewards and outcomes.

EDIT: Another thing I hope for is when they mention Physics, I hope they still add in Animations. One thing that really felt wrong with some games is they just leave ragdoll physics where there should be animations instead. Like in previous GTA's, if someone died from fire, they would just sprint around, not try to pat the fire out, and when they die, they just fall down, rather than crawl and collapse.

One thing that bugs me about SA though (and I'm probably not going to explain this very well) is that in the past GTAs Rockstar set up the main characters as very concrete in their motives and such but so far CJ just seems so morally ambiguous: By that I mean he comes back from Liberty City to bury his dead mother and help his 'hood restore its former glory free of drugs and all but you quickly find yourself killing military personnel and doing drive-byes and stuff with no hesitation after portraying him as a "nice guy" for the opening bits of the game. I felt like I missed some development somewhere.

It's been mentioned in the past that CJ is basically everyone's bitch. He has no real will of his own.

CJ: "I don't want to do this mission. Fine, I'll do it."

This was in stark contrast to Tony from VC who went into things for his own.

However, I'd argue that even that wasn't always clear. I'm still confused as to which point caused Tony to change from wanting to keep working for Sammy and to strike out on his own. I'm hoping that Niko's motivations are more clear.

One thing that bugs me about SA though (and I'm probably not going to explain this very well) is that in the past GTAs Rockstar set up the main characters as very concrete in their motives and such but so far CJ just seems so morally ambiguous: By that I mean he comes back from Liberty City to bury his dead mother and help his 'hood restore its former glory free of drugs and all but you quickly find yourself killing military personnel and doing drive-byes and stuff with no hesitation after portraying him as a "nice guy" for the opening bits of the game. I felt like I missed some development somewhere.

It's been mentioned in the past that CJ is basically everyone's bitch. He has no real will of his own.

CJ: "I don't want to do this mission. Fine, I'll do it."

This was in stark contrast to Tony from VC who went into things for his own.

However, I'd argue that even that wasn't always clear. I'm still confused as to which point caused Tony to change from wanting to keep working for Sammy and to strike out on his own. I'm hoping that Niko's motivations are more clear.

This game is all about the racism. I hate to think about all the backlash that will be involved but the truth must be told. The truth about a man who kills people by dropping them from his crane. Political correctness be damned. Damned to the max.

One of the things I thought was kind of dumb about crackdown was that the focus most of the time was on running around collecting tons of power ups just so you can desensitize yourself by jumping higher than buildings. Hopefully in IV this kind of stuff will be more muted and natural.

One thing that bugs me about SA though (and I'm probably not going to explain this very well) is that in the past GTAs Rockstar set up the main characters as very concrete in their motives and such but so far CJ just seems so morally ambiguous: By that I mean he comes back from Liberty City to bury his dead mother and help his 'hood restore its former glory free of drugs and all but you quickly find yourself killing military personnel and doing drive-byes and stuff with no hesitation after portraying him as a "nice guy" for the opening bits of the game. I felt like I missed some development somewhere.

I've heard this complaint before, and I can understand where people are coming from. However, I don't think he's morally ambiguous, he just has a very sideways, private sort of morality. Greedy even, I guess would be a good word. Basically, at the core of his moral system is the Grove. It is the center around which all of his other decisions are based. His family is center, then his homies in the grove, then his non-grove friends, then everyone else at the bottom. He has no problem shooting random dudes, IF it helps out the grove.

Hearing people talk about the pc version has made me think again about whether I should wait for the pc release of this, like I have all the other gtas. I do so love my pc controls...but I'd have to upgrade again. But it's in October, I'd be due again anyway...

Both versions of the game (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will likely be identical, but the Xbox 360 version will have exclusive downloadable episodic [sizeable] content. Rockstar have now spent over 3 years developing the game, and Dan Houser compares the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III.

Glorious.

Oh god, I don't even want to know when it will be released. It will just disappoint me.

Aye, just take it as a bit of PR talk

Whooooah! Just checked the official website, 10-16-07!? That's like before Spore even comes out. That can't be right, can it?

That's been the set date since Peter Moore did that tattoo thing at E3 in 2005

But I'm sure it will still be fun and bikes are a big thumbs up. But...yeah. I really enjoyed the countryside/desert and the insane range of vehicles. If i can't steal a tank/monster truck and ride it through Times Square I shall be a sad panda.

But I'm sure it will still be fun and bikes are a big thumbs up. But...yeah. I really enjoyed the countryside/desert and the insane range of vehicles. If i can't steal a tank/monster truck and ride it through Times Square I shall be a sad panda.

If they are modeling Liberty City to the detail they say, then you are looking at the city actually FEELING like a metropolis, instead of a small city. You could have "rural" areas in New Jersey or something, or on the outskirts.

You see crazy things in the city sometimes. I'm sure the people who are always dissapointed with sequels will be dissapointed, but I'm willing to bet there'll be enough stuff to wreak all kinds of horror on the populace. Me? I'm hoping for large, theatre going crowds and taxis.

Oh and what the hells up with that "Downloadable content exclusive to the 360"?. Way to fuck over the people who've kept your wages paid for the past 6-7 years.

It implies that Sony's DLC service isn't up to snuff yet. What's more, you'll have to pay for the content, and they can always release it as an expansion pack.

And come now, Darkwarrior. We all know there are very few loyalties in gaming. It cannibalizes its hardcore.. And to be perfectly honest, the GTA franchise has always been on the PC format, which as of yet is being screwed. So if anyone should be up in arms, it's them.

Give me a choice to be a GOOD GUY for a change, not utterly absorbed in my own petty wants.

Theres about half a billion games where you are the good guy. If you want you could go vigilante, drive cabs, put out fires and what not. I like GTA for what it is. And I'm excited for what it will become.

edit: Darkwarrior: lol, I can't tell if that's a serious comment? How are they screwing you over?